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A German paraglider survived lightning, pounding hail,
minus 40-degree temperatures and oxygen deprivation after a storm
system sucked her to an altitude higher than Mount Everest.

Ewa Wisnierska, 35, passed out due to a lack of oxygen and flew
unconscious for up to an hour covered in ice after reaching an
altitude of 9947 metres - near the cruising height of a jumbo
jet.

The champion sportswoman's survival was like "winning Lotto 10
times in a row", Australia's most experienced paraglider says.

Wisnierska says experience told her she had no chance of
survival, but a doctor told her that blacking out had saved
her.

"It was because that I got unsconscious because then the heart
slows down all the functions - it saved my life," she told ABC
radio.

Froze to death

A Chinese man who flew into the same storm near Manilla in northern NSW on Wednesday did not
share Ms Wisnierska's luck.

He Zhongpin, 42, was found 75 kilometres away from his launch
site, and most likely suffocated or froze to death after being
sucked into the storm, hang gliding experts say.

Ms Wisnierska's top speed of ascent was clocked
at 20 metres per second and her descent at 33 metres per
second by an on-board tracking system, she told ABC radio.

She described the violence of the storm system as
"amazing".

''You can't imagine the power - you feel like nothing, like
a leaf from a tree going up,'' she told the ABC.

"I was shaking all the time - the last thing I remember it
was dark, I could hear lightning all around me.

"I knew I was in the middle of the thunderstorm and I could
not do anything.

I knew the chances to survive are almost
zero

"From the theory, I knew the chances to survive are almost
zero, I knew I can only have luck, I can't do anything - and I
got it."

Wisnierska had been training for the upcoming Paragliding World
Championships when she was sucked into the violent storm.

She regained consciousness in mid-air up to an hour later.

"I wanted to fly around the clouds but I got sucked 20 metres
per second up into it and started to spiral," she told
smh.com.au.

"After 40 minutes or an hour, I woke up and I was 6900
metres.

"I was still flying but I realised I didn't have the brakes in
my hand.

"I saw my hands and the gloves were frozen, and I didn't have
the brakes, and the glider was still flying on its own.

"I was thinking I can't do anything so I only have to wait and
hope that the clouds were bringing me out somewhere.

And then I woke up

"And then I woke up and was thinking I was maybe unconscious for
one minute.

"I didn't know I was unconscious for so long."

Godfrey Wenness, the president of the Manilla Sky Sailors club
and organiser of the upcoming Paragliding World Championship, said
Wisnierska's tale of survival was mind-blowing.

"It's like winning Lotto 10 times in a row," he said, noting
that the previous altitude survival record for a paraglider was
24,000 feet.

"[Wisnierska] flew underneath a storm cloud and got sucked up to
30,000 feet. She was unconscious for about half an hour. She
regained consciousness at 20,000 feet and then flew down and landed
safely.

"She was covered in ice. She suffered from severe frostbite. The
temperature at that altitude was about minus 50 degrees. It's
higher than Mount Everest."

Mr Wenness said her injuries were severe.

Her ears nearly got frozen off

"She's got bruises all over her body from the hail stones and
she's recovering from frostbite to her extremities. She's got
bandages over her head because her ears nearly got frozen off."

"She just remembers going up, lightning around her in the cloud
and she doesn't remember anything until coming to again."

He said the size of the hail stones was up to 15 centimetres in
diameter.

"Apples, oranges, up to rockmelon size. And her glider kept
flying perfectly which is the amazing thing in this whole
thing.

"Basically she can't believe that she's alive.'

Sergeant Scott Tanner of Manilla police said Wisnierska landed
between Barraba and Niagra, 60 kilometres away from her launch
site.

"She was treated in hospital and discharged with frostbite
injuries to her face," he said.

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the temperature in the
storm at 9,000 metres would have been lower than minus-40
degrees.

Body found 25 kilometres from Bingara

The body of Mr He was found by the Westpac Rescue helicopter 25
kilometres south-east of Bingara in northern NSW about 2pm
yesterday.

He, a member of the Chinese national paragliding team, was in
training for the Paragliding World Championships, which start next
week in nearby Manilla.

The paraglider, who had 10 years' experience in the sport, was
last seen about 3pm on Wednesday as thunderstorms were moving into
the area.

Hang Gliding Federation of Australia general manager Chris Fogg
said Mr He was probably sucked into the cumulonimbus storm system
and propelled to high altitude.

"We assume he was taken to an altitude where he may have
suffocated and may have become radically chilled," he said.

"At the top of thunderstorms is typically where hail forms and
there's lots of agitation and turbulence.

"This system one sounds as if it was pretty strong - he could
have been taken up at 1200 feet a minute and beyond. "Most pilots
will try to get down to the ground before they get close to
something like that."

The glider piloted by Mr He would have continued flying even if
he had been unconscious, Mr Fogg said.

Mr Wenness yesterday said the paragliders were among 200 people
taking part in a routine training flight.

"The other flyers in the area had given the stormclouds a "wide
berth", he said.

"Maybe he was trying to thread the needle between two cells, but
we don't know," he said.

Mr Wenness said more would be known after data retrieved from
the GPS instruments carried by the man had been used to map out his
exact flight path.

Storm cell building

Mr Wenness said the storm cell had been building since the early
morning, and all paragliders had been briefed about the danger
before beginning their training flights.

"You do not fly anywhere near them - not even 747s fly through
storm cells," he said.

Mr Wenness said if the paraglider had deliberately steered into
the storm cell, it was not just a risk but a decision that was
"99.9 per cent" likely to lead to his death.

The Paragliding World Championships begin in Manilla on February
24. It is the first time the event has been held in an
English-speaking country.

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